3 Sign the dotted line..

The bombshell of a revelation stunned Azamir when Dawson told him that the initial hurdle for a merc was signing your life away! Even if only temporary, most people thought that it was common knowledge to be able to sign directly to any mercenary company!

Come to think of it, Azamir could not recall any details on the start of his father's freelance career. Anytime he was prodded about the details by his overeager son Azamir's father would always downplay or deflect the questions saying "it was just boring training, too mundane to mention really."

Before Azamir could even ask the question, Dawson beat him to the explanation. "naturally this information isn't freely given, regardless of your decision to sign a contract with us we will require you to sign an NDA* form to never speak of it. While it sounds mundane the MRB would still like to keep some of its secrets." Dawson pulled out a signature pad and shared the agreement with Azamir on his datapad. "We do offer compensation for signing the NDA, but we also take that as a refusal of the contract we offer to you. You are allowed to sign it now and defer the decision to take the payment outlined in the agreement. If you do decide to join up however, I look forward to finding out just how much you can grow."

Dawson's matter of fact attitude was refreshing for Azamir as there was little guesswork in what he needed to do. Still, before rushing into a decision that has a four-year commitment just like the military he needed to discuss his options.

"Thank you for your offer, I will sign the NDA for now and will give you an answer within the next day. I still have my parents to think about," Azamir bowed slightly before signing the agreement and chatted with Dawson on a few finer details and a promise to return.

Azamir really wanted to stay with the mercenary group longer but had too many pressing matters jump out at him today. Not only were his family issues his primary concern, but what about this mysterious and miracle causing system that appeared out of nowhere! He quickly left the recruiting event and exited the academy for the last time without even looking back.

After all, Azamir did not know that many people at the academy and had no reason to stick around with peers to celebrate and enjoy the accomplishment of starting their lives. He was acquaintances with a few of his sparring partners in the martial arts classes he took as an elective but was often far too busy outside of the academy either taking care of his father or helping his mother with an extra odd job to keep the finances in check.

If only he wasn't so exhausted! while the boon of this combat assist that this system gave him it was undeniable that it came with certain drawbacks. Azamir walked over to the cities magrail network and boarded the first railcar to take him back towards his family home in the residential district.

As he passed the automatic doors he sat in the back of the car and away from others to have a moment to himself. He began to think about what the system was and how to call it up in the display like earlier. "Hmm, should it be a command? Wake up?" He mumbled to himself in an attempt to get the system to respond. The railcar began its journey with few people aboard making it easy for him to look like he's chatting with himself.

"open!"

"engage?"

"start!"

"all your base are belong to us?"

Azamir continued to try different combinations to prompt the system to life. He stopped to consider how something like it should work. It seemed to respond as a computer would, maybe it had a command screen? He shrugged to himself and tried it anyway.

"system open command?"

... he waited for another moment

"System menu?"

Like he had uttered the password a stream of information immediately appeared before his very eyes.

[Welcome to the Mercenary System user]

[Normal startup sequence deffered]

[Initialize?] Y/N

Azamirs eyes glowed with anticipation in getting the prompt to where he immediately selected the Y command by looking at it with his eyes.

[Initializing *proper* first-time use: hold for scan]

Scan? Azamir had a second to think before his body felt as if a bolt of lightning flowed through him and felt goosebumps on his skin from head to toe. "what was that?"

[Scan complete: displaying status]

[name: Azamir Ternum]

[age: 20 years]

[physical traits]

[Dexterity: 0.7(0.3)*, Strength 1.12 (0.6)*, Vitality: 1.0 (.5)*]

[Mental Traits]

[Intelligence 0.8, Critical thinking 1.1, Will: ???]

[Skills]

[Tactics: Beginner 1]

[*System note: user at reduced strength due to a penalty of combat assist. Please rest soon.* ]

[Initialization complete - complete guide to unlock main functions]

Azamir looked over his stats, it seemed odd to have his entire ability summed up into numbers. He noted the reduced numbers and found an explanation for his current state. "looks like I have to be careful when using this as it could leave me in a precarious state!"

Azamir resolved to not let this happen again without fully understanding what he was getting into. "System, open guide." Time flew by as Azamir began to digest more knowledge flitting in front of his eyes to harness this new tool. He was so engrossed he even forgot about the prospective employment contracts sitting on his datapad!

Scenery flew by as the magrail sped onwards towards its destination. Multiple districts passed by in a blink and the magrail slowly let out more and more passengers until it was just a few people left in the magrail car. Azamir's family home resided towards the edge of the residential district of Ostacre.

His father spent his money not on a fancy three-story mansion in the middle of the great commercial district but rather spent it on larger space farther out of town where a humble house stood at the crest of a hill. The silence was his father's luxury and his main concern when settling down with his wife. Azamir grew quite fond of it growing up too, developing an appreciation for a retreat from the race of life around him. While Ostacre was not a booming tech planet within the federal republic it still had the bustle in the main city districts and a respectable agricultural trade.

Azamir made it to the station and exited the magrail still in deep concentration as he was integrating the knowledge in his head. passersby would hear him mumble or lightly exclaim at his insights into the main system functions and how it worked. He walked automatically on the route home as he traveled it every day to and from the academy by memory at this point in his life.

Before he knew it, Azamir stepped onto the front porch of his family home. He heard bustling inside as his mother must have made it home early to hear of any news from her son. Azamir smiled to himself and set aside the system information to enter and greet his parents.

Azamir walked through the door to find his mother at the stove heating up tea. She turned and smiled as her face brightened and walked over to embrace her son. Azamir's mother was a bit shorter than him at about 167 cm tall and had long dark red hair in a braid to the middle of her back. She wore simple clothes around the home and had green eyes that were faded now and laced with the worry of supporting their family day in and out.

He kept the greeting short as he told her about the events that had happened during the day and the offers he had to discuss. She gave a warm smile filled with pride as she went back to what she was doing around the house.

Azamir checked on his father that seemed to be sleeping before going back to his room to deliberate his choices and how this system fell into them.

He pulled up his datapad and started to read through the various offers he received today and their benefits. While Azamir wanted to go immediately to the mercenary contract he forced himself to review his other offers first to get an objective view. The MinStar contract was fairly straightforward with little conditions other than any other basic job he could have. This job would likely be uncomplicated and simple, but the true money lay in just how lucky he was in finding a rich deposit! Azamir had a hard time accepting his success resulting from pure chance and circumstance! It was fine to benefit from luck here and there but he could not afford to rely on it! Regardless, he set aside that choice for now and reviewed the governments officer trainee position he was pointed towards.

After going over the rather meticulous and lengthy provisions in the position Azamir managed to point out the major factors in the government's offer. First, his debt would be forgiven in chunks based on years of service given. Living expenses were included as he would transfer to a government training facility and live in a barracks so his wage was lower as a result. Starting salary came in around 22,000 credits per month. While lower than the previous position he did note that having no living expenses gave him more to spend he didn't want to be stuck there working for years only to be paid what amounted to pennies! Even the mining job had the potential to pay out more than he needed if he got lucky once or twice every few years!

Finally, Azamir brought up the mercenary contract. As Dawson did go over some of the fine points he knew most of what it had to say. After flitting through a few pages of the document his eyes widened.

Azamir blinked a few times and exclaimed "there is no way! this has to be a mistake!"